QLD deputy premier Steven Miles fires back: PM’s quarantine hub site ‘needs a lot of work’

Queensland’s deputy premier has hit back at Scott Morrison’s offer to fund a proposed quarantine site near Brisbane airport, while Australia’s peak medical body thinks it’s a great idea.

AUSTRALIA’S peak medical body has thrown its support behind the federal government’s proposal to build a quarantine hub near Brisbane Airport rather than in Toowoomba.

It’s comes shortly after Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles responded to Mr Morrison’s offer to pay for a purpose-built facility next to Brisbane Airport, saying it ‘needs a lot of work’.

The PM’s surprise offer came in a letter to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Thursday night, and has the potential to end the bitter stalemate over the Wellcamp proposal at Toowoomba.

The new hub, proposed for the Damascus Barracks at Pinkenba, would have 1000 beds and would help limit outbreaks from hotel quarantine.

Mr Miles revealed the State Government received the one-page Pinkenba proposal on Thursday evening “just after it was provided to The Courier-Mail”.

“It needs a lot more work,” he said.

“The only detail in the letter is an address.

“We’ve looked at it on Google Maps but we’ll need people to get out there on the ground and look at how the facility can be developed and kept safe.”

Deputy Premier Steven Miles speaks about the quarantine hub proposal. Picture: Dan Peled

Mr Miles said the government had a detailed and costed proposal for Toowoomba’s Wellcamp Airport.

“Instead the Prime Minister wants us to start from scratch with this other proposal,” he said.

“We’ll do that but I would hope that we can keep both proposals under consideration.”

He revealed it was one of the sites already identified by the State Government, but it was in part ruled out due to contamination and asbestos in the old buildings.

The Pinkenbak quarantine facility, one the other hand, could be up and running by early next year, if it is agreed to and the two governments seal a deal.

The Toowoomba facility was rejected by the federal government as it did not meet national guidelines released earlier this month, including that it was more than an hour drive from a principal referral hospital.

Australian Medical Association president Dr Omar Korshid, supporting the Brisbane proposal, said people should not be quarantined in facilities “not within reach of appropriate health facilities”.

“We do support facilities being located on Commonwealth land with a contribution from both state and federal governments, close to airports, and of course most big hospitals,” he said.

Dr Korshid said dedicated quarantine facilities were needed as Australia’s border arrangements “will probably need to permanently change” and some level of quarantine will be needed into the foreseeable future.

He said the infrastructure, once no longer needed, could be transformed for a different purpose like social housing.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has proposed a potential site for a Queensland quarantine facility. Picture: Thomas Samson / AFP

Mr Miles said that a quarantine facility could have already been built by now, as Queensland recorded two more new cases of community transmission related to the Portuguese restaurant.

“How and why it took the Commonwealth so long to choose it are questions you could put to them,” he said.

“It’s a shame it’s taken this long for us to get any real level of engagement.

“Our Wellcamp proposal has been on the table for five months.”

“It’s taken them five months not to give us an answer on Wellcamp, we’ve had this for 12 hours.”

Mr Miles said the state would assess the costing of the proposal, its location and operation.

He urged the Prime Minister to continue to consider the Toowoomba proposal saying it was “the only proposal on the table with any detail” and allowed for additional capacity to ‘a level’ of hotel quarantine.

A spokesman for the Premier on Thursday confirmed she had received the correspondence and will consider the contents of the letter.

The PM’s proposal includes an offer to pay for the facility if the State Government builds and runs it.

The quarantine facility could be up and running by early next year, if it is agreed to and the two governments seal a deal.

It follows five months of fighting over a proposed facility connected to the Wellcamp Airport in Toowoomba, which has been all but rejected by the Federal Government.

The Toowoomba facility is not near an airport that already takes commercial international passenger flights and is more than an hour and a half from a tertiary hospital properly equipped to deal with Covid cases.

While Mr Morrison has previously ruled out Defence bases as quarantine sites, as they are working facilities which are not suited for purpose, Damascus Barracks is primarily used for storage.

Buildings already on the 29Ha site are not able to be used as they are too communal, but new structures could be built.

It is understood that in the letter Mr Morrison invites Ms Palaszczuk to take part in a joint assessment of the site.

He says it is of a suitable size and meets the Commonwealth’s relevant key assessment criteria.

The criteria include being close to an international airport taking regularly scheduled commercial passenger flights and be within an hour’s drive of a tertiary hospital.

The Damascus Barracks at Pinkenba has been proposed as a potential site for a new quarantine facility.

It is also hoped the facility would be used to help increase the intake of Pacific Island workers to boost agricultural workers.

It would be similar to the deal arrange with the Victorian Government, where the Federal Government is footing the bill but the State Government running the facility as they employ the medical staff required.

The Victorian proposal is a 500-bed facility at Mickleham expected to cost about $200 million, as next to Avalon Airport and 30km from the Melbourne CBD.

In the letter Mr Morrison thanked Ms Palaszczuk for her more detailed proposal for the Wellcamp facility, received earlier this month, but said it did not meet the assessment criteria.

Just this week Deputy Premier Steven Miles challenged the Morrison Government to put their own ideas forward if they keep “coming up with new reasons why (Wellcamp) is not good enough”.

“Come to us with a defence property, or a suitable property that you think will work because at the end of the day, we’re doing the Commonwealth a favour doing quarantine,” Mr Miles said on Tuesday.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said has argued the Toowoomba quarantine facility would create an increased risk of transmission in a regional area because the city does not have the medical workforce required, meaning workers would have to travel large distances.

Mr Morrison has previously told the states he is willing to consider proposals that meet the criteria.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has been pushing for a quarantine facility at Toowoomba. Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass

Queensland has six tertiary hospitals, including three in Brisbane being the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Princess Alexandra Hospital and Prince Charles Hospital.

There are three in regional areas, being Townsville Hospital, Gold Coast University Hospital and Sunshine Coast University Hospital.

Ms Palaszczuk first proposed the Toowoomba quarantine site in late January, at the same time she suggested Gladstone could be another location though the latter was quickly ruled out.

Toowoomba is in Groom which is the second safest Coalition seat in the country.

Originally published as QLD deputy premier Steven Miles fires back: PM’s quarantine hub site ‘needs a lot of work’